Patent hassles for OpenMoko

Posted Nov 17, 2008 0:47 UTC (Mon) by ebrake (guest, #54777)
Parent article: Patent hassles for OpenMoko

I read the comment as simply saying this legal is battle is unnecessary and wasteful of resources.

Patent hassles for OpenMoko

Posted Nov 17, 2008 10:55 UTC (Mon) by ms (subscriber, #41272) [Link] (6 responses)

Given the change of POTUS, I wonder whether we dare look forward to meaningful reform of software patents. Anyone know of Obama's views on software patents?

Patent hassles for OpenMoko

Posted Nov 17, 2008 11:10 UTC (Mon) by MathFox (guest, #6104) [Link] (3 responses)

Sisvel is an Italian "patent enforcer", mainly active in Europe. In this case it is more likely the EPO and/or EUropean authorities who are to blame.

Patent hassles for OpenMoko

Posted Nov 17, 2008 11:26 UTC (Mon) by ms (subscriber, #41272) [Link] (2 responses)

Ahh, I'm really not trying to apportion blame here. I was thinking more that if Obama forces through reform of software patents, it would be difficult for the EUP/EC to not adopt similar reforms, especially in these times of economic difficulties - the argument that patents stifle development and that non-patent ridden countries are more attractive to software development investment will, I would hope, be compelling enough.

Patent hassles for OpenMoko

Posted Nov 17, 2008 12:04 UTC (Mon) by MathFox (guest, #6104) [Link] (1 responses)

Agreed. Personally I feel that stopping software patents in Europe helped to spark the recent reforms in the US. Unfortunately, the MP3 patents are pretty old and IMO of better quality (in the disclosure) and more specificity than the average software patent.

Patent hassles for OpenMoko

Posted Nov 17, 2008 12:42 UTC (Mon) by kirkengaard (guest, #15022) [Link]

Yes. If there is such a thing as a "good" software patent, i.e. one that is properly documented, strictly defined, and describes precisely what it covers in the patent material, Fraunhofer may well be in the running for that qualification. Good patent by patent standards, not by software standards. At least part of the problem here is that it was far more hardware-specific a problem when the team that developed what became layer 3 did their work. We're talking a patent on a design encoded into DSP chips, plus the output format. At that time, it was easier to see as a patentable issue, and not as math. My guess is, nobody figured on the output format becoming the money maker.

Obama's Views

Posted Nov 17, 2008 18:30 UTC (Mon) by ccyoung (guest, #16340) [Link]

this is a good start:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/17/11302/899/10...

Patent hassles for OpenMoko

Posted Nov 26, 2008 2:19 UTC (Wed) by kingdon (guest, #4526) [Link]

Maybe someone else has been paying closer attention than I, but one clue is at http://change.gov/agenda/technology_agenda/:

Reform the Patent System: Ensure that our patent laws protect legitimate rights while not stifling innovation and collaboration. Give the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) the resources to improve patent quality and open up the patent process to citizen review to help foster an environment that encourages innovation. Reduce uncertainty and wasteful litigation that is currently a significant drag on innovation.

To make sense of this, you probably need to have been following things like http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/05/patent-reform-act-st...